Jobs on Android Unit Sales

Here's one good piece of FUD from Jobs: "Unfortunately, there is no solid data on how many Android phones are shipped each quarter. We hope that manufacturers will soon start reporting the number of Android handsets they ship each quarter. But today that just isn't the case. Samsung released sales figures for its Galaxy S (more than 10 million) and Galaxy S II devices (5 million). Google's latest count is that 550,000-plus Android handsets and tablets are being activated daily. comScore just said Android has 41.8 percent market share in a market where there are more than 80 million smartphone users. That's a huge chunk.

Apple Co-founder Steve Jobs tendered his resignation as CEO Aug. 24, becoming an adviser while elevating COO Tim Cook to CEO role he has assumed three times previously while Jobs battled cancer. Jobs didn't speak publicly much, but when he did he went on record regarding the competition with acerbic comments that were dismissive of his company's rivals. This was particularly true of Google's Android operating system, which Jobs had a particular distaste for after Android phones launched all over the world managed to take market share from not just his iPhone, but every other platform. Jobs is going out on top after helping the company accumulate $76 billion in cash reserves to build new products (possibly Apple Television), perhaps even buy small countries if wanted to. It's also using some of that money to mount a massive legal defense of the products against Android and competing mobile device makers. Jobs' sentiment versus Android came out best on the company's fourth quarter earnings conference call last October, when he said Android wasn't really open. Of course, Apple isn't perfect. Jobs' Draconian Apple App Store rules have put off many application developers. As a tribute to Jobs, the competitor, this eWEEK slide show examines some of his comments about Android, as well as some counterpoints against Apple's iron-fisted platform rule.